During medical school, medical students learn human anatomy, disease symptoms, disease stages, diagnostic techniques, treatment techniques, and other scientific information needed to think critically about the diagnosis and treatment of illnesses. However, being a good physician requires more than just scientific knowledge. A physician also needs to be able to form and maintain effective relationships with his/her patients. This can be challenging because each patient is a unique individual that can differ from other patients in appearance, background, experience, educational level, cognitive ability, religion, attitude, ethnicity, etc. To form effective relationships with such a wide array of patients, the physician must be patient, perceptive, understanding, supportive, and empathic. In addition, the physician needs to be able to portray his/herself as a knowledgeable and trustworthy individual.
Present-day medical curriculums focus on conveying scientific knowledge and do not adequately train physicians in patient interactions. This lack of curricular emphasis on medical humanism and the lack of proper integration of sociological and psychological information into medical training results in physicians who do not have the necessary tools to understand patients as people, to effectively convey information to patients, or to effectively listen to patients. Even in medical schools in which an effort to teach medical humanism is made, the effort is largely ineffective. Books and lectures do not even begin to expose medical students to the wide array of situations in which physicians find themselves during their day-to-day practice. Further, books and lectures do not provide medical students with any experience in interacting with patients, colleagues, medical staff, pharmacists, superiors, insurance company representatives, or other individuals involved in the medical profession. Books and lectures are further limited in their ability to help medical students understand why certain information is critical to acquire, and what the consequences are if that information is ignored.
As a result of the above-mentioned curricular deficiency, the majority of physicians are unable to effectively communicate with or otherwise relate to their patients. Poor physician/patient relationships can lead to misdiagnosis and/or other medical errors. Medical errors result in approximately 200,000 patient deaths each year, more than the number of individuals who die from motor vehicle accidents, breast cancer, and AIDS combined. Medical errors are also the primary basis for medical malpractice claims brought against physicians. In addition, poor physician/patient communication can lead to uninformed patients, misinformed patients, unhappy patients, patients who are unable or unwilling to adhere to a prescribed treatment, and/or patients who reject the medical profession.
Another problem in the medical profession is that most physicians enter practice with no concept of medical economies, medical policies, good business practices, or good management practices. This again stems from an inability to effectively teach these skills in a traditional medical school classroom. Yet another problem in the medical profession is the lack of consistency in medical practices across professional communities. Medical practices are inconsistent from region to region, from state to state, from medical school to medical school, and even among different faculty at the same medical school. Inconsistent medical practices can make it difficult for physicians to transfer locations and/or work with physicians in other geographic regions. Inconsistencies can also make a difficult and sometimes frustrating profession even more frustrating for new medical school graduates. In addition, it can be especially difficult for medical students because inconsistencies exist not only between regions and individuals, but also between the attitudes and practices that medical students observe and the values that are explicitly taught to them. This so-called ‘hidden curriculum’ (i.e., the social and cultural aspects of education that exist alongside an educational institution's stated or intended curricular objectives) creates a huge problem for medical students as they try to develop an ethical and reflective style of practice.
Thus, there is a need for a medical training system capable of teaching medical personnel how to effectively interact with patients through actual experience. There is also a need for a medical training system capable of teaching medical personnel how to effectively interact with other physicians, assistants, staff, billing coordinators, and any other personnel associated with the medical profession. There is also a need for a medical training system capable of effectively teaching medical personnel about medical economics, medical policy, good business practices, and good management practices. Further, there is a need for a medical training system capable of consistently training a large number of medical personnel such that medical practices are able to become more consistent throughout the medical profession and conform more closely to the humanistic, patient-centered values that are espoused.